SAMIA AT ONE: Samia’s tourism masterstroke

AS President Samia Suluhu Hassan marks one year in office this year, her Royal Tour documentary could prove a masterstroke in global marketing of the country's tourism industry.

The much-heralded documentary, the first of its kind, is set for premiering on public television stations across the United States starting April 21, this year. Producer of the documentary, Mr. Peter Greenberg, made the announcement through a twitter message posted yesterday.

"Tanzania: The Royal Tour with the President of #Tanzania @SuluhuSamia as my very special guide. Premiering on public television stations across the U.S. beginning April 21st. #royaltourtanzania," the producer tweeted.

Among other accomplishments, Tanzania has been selected to host the 65th tourism conference in October by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Regional Commission for Africa (UNWTOCAF).

The documentary has seen the country record over 780,000 local tourists for the first time in the country's history, according to Natural Resources and Tourism Minister, Dr. Damas Ndumbaro.

According to the minister, the Royal Tour which its official trailer went viral for the first time at the end of December, last year has opened up Tanzania's tourism industry from within the country and globally.

"For the first time since the country acquired its independence, we have witnessed over 780,000 local tourists flocking in our attraction sites... These figures are historic," asserted Dr. Ndumbaro.

The minister also revealed that the milestones have pushed the ministry to set new goals for Mara Region, which retains about five attraction parks, with the anticipated plans kicking off from this year onwards. He pointed that the goal was to ensure Mara Region transforms into a tourism hub and to see to it that the riches benefit the residents in the region.

"This time around, we want the royal tour to go to Mara and Bunda... as the region becomes a tourism hub, we want the people of Mara to benefit from the attraction sites and stop complaining," he said.

He applauded President Samia for her initiative to move around the country to make possible the Royal Tour documentary, which has started bearing positive results.

Besides, he acknowledged the government support of availing a sum of 98.2bn/- which will help strengthen tourism infrastructure and build capacity to different people including 150 beneficiaries from Mara Region who will take part in promoting the attraction sites found in the region.

President Samia kicked-off the shooting of the Royal Tour documentary on August 28th, 2021 in Zanzibar. The President's lead in the Royal Tour documentary project has made things a lot easier for the tourism sector and its many players, putting the country in the world map as a special place for tourism and stimulating the country's economy through tourism investors and business persons.

Similarly, President Samia's decision to record a documentary will help to promote the country's tourist attractions and stimulate the economy from the sector that has been severely affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, the move is in line with the government's goal of increasing the number of tourists visiting the country annually which in turn will boost revenues for tourism based economic communities, businesses, and the nation.

Tanzania's tourism sector recorded remarkable success in 2021 in terms of the number of visitors and revenue that went up by 76 per cent amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Ndumbaro said despite the pandemic, the country's tourism performed well and foreign visitors recorded in 2021were 922,692, noting; "This performance is good... It is equivalent to 48 per cent of the regular performance." The minister noted that in terms of revenue from domestic tourism in 2020, revenue from local visitors registered 9.7bn/- and in 2021 it shot to 12.4bn/- being the highest record since independence.

Dr. Ndumbaro further said that during the period revenue collections mainly from foreign visitors increased from 714.59 million US dollars in 2020 to 1.2544 million US dollars in 2021, estimated as an increase of 76 per cent.